Concrete railroad roadbed



E. WILSON.

CONCRETE RAILROAD ROADBED.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 23. 1922.

Patented Nov. 28, 1922.

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Patented Nov. 28, E922.

MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JOHN MERLE, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

EDWIN WILSON, OF ST. LOUIS,

teem aerate.

concan'rn RAILROAD ROADBED.

Application filed September 23, 1922. Serial No. 590,059.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN W1LsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, in'the State of Missouri, have invent- 5 ed certainnew and useful Improvements in Concrete Railroad Roadbeds, of which the following is a specification containing a full, clear, and exact description, reference being bad to the accompanying drawing, forming a part hereof.

My invention consists in the novel construction'and combination of parts hereinafter particularly described and distinctly claimed. j V

'The object of my invention is toprovide an improved flexible, or cushioned, concrete railroad road-bed, without the use of wooden ties; which-shall have safety-appliances that will do away with track spreading; that will permit an increase in the speed of trains, without danger from track troubles; that .will firmly hold the rails in place at curved points; that will keep the track in place in flooded districts, inasmuch as a railroad roadbed constructed in accordance with my invention cannot float away when flooded; that will make American railroads more beautiful and artistic; that will save millions of dollars in timber, and relieve the present timber shortage; that will revent low joints, which heretofore have een the cause of numerous broken rails and wrecked trains that will save millions of dollars in railroad-spikes;

and that will be cheaper in the long-run than wooden tie road-beds, because my roadbed will last much longer, and will require less repairs than wooden-tie road-beds.

A further object of my invention is to pro- .vide concrete railroad road-beds in complete portable sections, which can be manufac-- tured at terminal points, or at any oint along the road where a sufiicient supply of stone may be conveniently had, and the complete sectionsmay be shipped from the plant to the point at-which they are to be used,

where they ma be (puickly placed in position by unskilled la orers; and the good parts of the sebtions that are to be repaired or replaced, can be saved and used again.

In the drawings, 1

Fig. 1 is a top plan-view of two complete sections of my concrete road-bed, with the sections spaced a proper distance apart to firmly support the rails.

Fig. 2 is a cross-section, or end-view, of the road-bed, and

Fig. 3 is a detail outside elevation of one of the concrete side-beams supporting the rail, and showing how the spikes engage the rail-flange and tie-rod.

, I will describe the detail construction of but one section, as all are alike.

The numeral 1 designates opposite sidebeam s, which are composed of high-grade concretethat is reinforced by suitable metal rods 2, in the usual well-known manner.-

Fig. 2. L c I n the present illustration the said sidebeams- 1 are placed in pairs aiong the roadbed, at a suitable distance between pairs to insure the proper support of the rails 3.

Said side-beams 1 may,in the present instance, be made 42 inches longon the hottom, 30 inches wide at the bottom, 20 inches high, 30 inches long on top, and 12 inches wide on the top, so that they are in the form of small pyramids, tapering. inwardly from the bottom upwardly, and having a fiat tieplate (and rail) supporting-surface at their tops.

Such a form provides a very large base at the bottom of the sid ebeams, for engaging the earth or road ballast 4, Fig. 2; thereby minimizing the settling of the'side-beams when subjected to the action of heavily loaded trains.

'The rails 3 rest upon metallic tie-plates 5, that are slightly smaller than the tie-plate surface 6 of said side-beams 1, andsaid plates are preferably made of steel that is at' least one-half inch thick, in order to protect the1 concrete from possible injury by the ral s.

Each of the steel plates 5 has two spikeholes 7, each preferably 2% x 13; inches, with the long sides of said holes or slots extendin'g parallel with the rails, and the two slots being parallel, separated laterally about the width of the rail-flange, (or base) and located at about the center of the length of the late.

T 1e flanges of the rails are held in place by spikes or rail-holding members 8, which are made of steel or other suitable metal, of

ample size, say 1 inch thick, with. a strong head at their upper ends, to engage the railflanges, and having a widened lower end in ,which is formed a tie-rod hole that is preferably 1% inch-es in diameter.

Molded in the said side-beams 1 are vertical spike-seats 10, which extend downwardly from the top of said side-beams to a point about midway of the hei ht of the latter, to ermit said spikes to e passed downward y in said seats to a position to beengaged by the tie-rod 11, which will be presently described in detail-" Each pair of the said side-beams is connected by'a reinforced concrete cross-beam 12, the ends of which are detachably located in a. beam-seat 14 that is formed in the inner side of the side-beams, at the time the latter are molded.

The tie-rod 11 passes loosely through a longitudinal tie-rod passage 15 that extends from end to end of said-cross-beam 12;

thence through one or more washers or track-gaging plates 16 at the endsv of said cross-beam, and thence through tie-rod passages in the said side-beams 1, to the outer sides of the latter, where they are threaded and provided with clamping-nuts 17 so that when, said nuts are tightened said side beams will 'be clamped firmly in position upon the ends of said cross-beam, and the latter will be supported in said beam-seats 14 of their opposite side-beams, and thereby form a complete and durable rail-supportin section.

he said tie-rod 11 passes through the said tie-rod holes of said rail-holding members or spikes 8, and thereby holds the lat- Said nuts 17 engage nut-seats '18 formed in the outer side-walls of said side-beams 1.

- The said cross-beams 12 have flat under- 7 sides, but theirupper sides are preferably rounded transversely, as shown, sothat depending brake-rods. or other parts of the passing cars or locomotives, upon striking same, will not catch and cause damage, but, on account of said rounded upper sides,

'saidpassing parts will glance off, and pass over said cross-beams in safety.

The operation and advantagesof my invention will be entirely clear from the above description. w

1. A flexible concrete railroad road-bed,

composed of wide-based pyramidal sidebeams of concrete; cross-beams detachablv;

clam ed in seats in opposite ones of said side eams; rails mounted on said sidebeams; steel plates on said side-beams between said rails and the tops of said sidebeams'; rail-holding members-having heads which engage the flanges of saidrails, and provided with perforated lower portions which extend downwardly and are remova'bly located in spike-seats formed in said side-beams; and tie-rods passing through said cross-beams from end-to-end of same and extending through the perforations of said rail-holding members, and through said opposite side-beams, and adapted to firmly clamp said side-beams upon the ends of said cross-beams.

2. The combination with the in the above claim 1, of gage-p ates located between the ends of said cross-beams and said side-beams, in the beam-seats of the latter, to regulate the gage of the trackrails.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDWIN WILSON.

Witnesses:

' EDNA E. MONRAD,

HENRY L. HIGDON.

arts named 

